Eternal Thief

Callan was surprised by Antonio's reaction, but he didn't dare to question his order and led the way towards the Palace Prison. There, they kept all the heinous criminals of the empire or those who had shown signs of rebelling against the imperial clan!

The palace prison was in the southern region of the imperial palace and was well guarded. Many powerful Imperial Guards guarded the passage, and the warden was also an imperial guard who ranked fifth in the imperial guard rankings.

When those guards saw the Mortal Emperor had come personally, they were shocked before they quickly kneeled in reverence.

Antonio merely nodded with a nonchalant attitude and paid them little mind. With Callan memories, he now had enough memories to make Antonio's profile, so it was very hard to find flaws in his disguise.

Following a stairway leading towards the underground palace prison, Ace appeared in a gloomy place filled with the scent of blood and despair. The warden was another Skylar giant, Gerald, with a burly build, a menacing face, and a few ghastly scars on his beard.

"Welcome, Your Majesty!" Gerald bowed respectfully. He had already heard about Antonio's surprise visit, and when he saw Callan with him, he guessed why Antonio was there.

Antonio nodded coolly before ordering, "Warden Gerald, I'm glad you're doing well. You should know why I'm here. Lead the way."

Then he looked at Callan and stated, "You are dismissed now; you may return to your post. Thank you for your hard work."

"It's my duty to serve the imperial crown!" Callen quickly bowed with a hint of excitement when he received Antonio's praise, just like a loyal dog. He then quickly excused himself.

Gerald also didn't tarry and quickly led Antonio to the most secure part of the prison. He was in the same situation as Callen, under the absolute control of the Imperial Family.

Although they both had their own thoughts, they were absolutely loyal to the imperial family, which was the sacristy of this strange ritual.

While heading deep into the prison, Ace observed the dark prison cells, and those imprisoned within were all tortured badly. Some of them were on the verge of dying, and some were wailing in pain.

These prisons were made with extremely rare and special materials that could suppress someone's cultivation, and then there was also a formation engraved in those cells, which were specially crafted for torture.

This formation slowly ate away the prisoner's Qi and soul, which was a very painful process, and the imperial family made sure those guys would die slowly and then couldn't even commit suicide.

But what surprised Ace was that most of these people seemed to be from the human race, and he couldn't help but soul-probe Gerald at this moment. He found this quite peculiar, so he wanted to know more.

Gerald was naturally unaware of his memories being stolen by Ace, just like Callen. He led Ace through a few secret sections of the prison, and they finally reached their destination, which was actually the core of this prison, where there were only three prison cells.

Those cells were made to suppress the cultivators of the law awareness realm and were very seldom used since it was very hard to capture a law awareness realm cultivator alive.

But at this moment, two of those cells were occupied by two people, and they were nailed on the wall with large crimson runic clout nails, and their bodies were filled with wounds and blood. Those runic nails shimmered menacingly, and faint whimpers could be heard from those two prisons.

Ace's eyes flashed with dense killing intent when he saw the skinny figure with long violet disheveled hair.

Before Gerald could say anything, he coldly ordered, "You may go now. I don't want to be disturbed by anyone and leave the formation key behind for their cells."

Gerald were startled, but he didn't dare to object as he knew those two guys were no longer a threat for their meridians were broken and Qi completely dissipated, they were once extremely powerful but now merely cripples.

Furthermore, those runic nails were not ordinary either, they were Grade-8 Soul Torturing Nails, they were made to torture a person's soul endlessly and dying was impossible as long as they were placed in there.

Not only that but if someone tries to remove them without the secret method only known to the Mortal Emperor, those nails will self-destruct and kill the prisoner. The blast is also a soul attack that can even gravely wound a law comprehension realm cultivator.

After Gerald left, Ace used the formation plate and opened the cell of this violet-haired prisoner. The prisoner suddenly trembled as his bloodshot eyes behind his hair moved slightly.

Despite his soul-curdling pain, he sneered in a feeble, hoarse voice, "Bastard Emperor, if you're here to see me breaking down, then I had to disappoint you. These things are nothing but toys, hahahaha!"

He suddenly laughed manically despite the apparent torment in his voice, this sudden burst caused the Soul torturing Nails shimmered darkly, and his whole body trembled before his laughter turned into painful roars.

Ace's eyes trembled slightly before he pointed his finger, and Dismantle Qi covered the nails. Although he didn't know the secret method to turn them off or remove them, as long as he could dismantle them, it was all the same.

Soon, the nails turned into dark glob, and the figure was freed as he fell down on the floor, Ace wasn't in mood to complete the process as he cut off the Qi and the next moment the dark glob turned into dust.

The figure who was suddenly freed from his torment was shocked. With extreme difficulty, he sat down and looked at Antonio in bewilderment.

Ace spoke bitterly at this moment, "Was it worth it? You attacked the imperial palace in a frenzy just because your disciple went missing, and you didn't believe the imperial family.

"You even impeach your entire clan for someone you only knew for a few months. Now, your cultivation has been destroyed, and you will never be able to use the archery you take so much pride in. You were once like a King, yet you turned into a dying prisoner, all of a person you didn't even know well.

"Tell me, Death Striker Connor, was it really worth it?!" Ace's voice was sharp and filled with emotions.

This dying man was indeed the Divine Eyes Hunter, Death Striker Connor, Ace's temporary identity, Leroy's master.

Although everyone knew that Zack had attached the imperial palace, what they didn't know and the imperial family completely hid it from the public was that Zack had a helper that day who was hiding in the shadows and supporting him.

He was also the person who killed far more men of the imperial army than Zack with his deadly archery that day.

Connor did all of this because he couldn't accept the news of his cherished disciple Leroy's death!